Confirmation of the Kazakh Khan Nuraly in 1748—1749

Abstract

The article considers the problems of transformation of imperial policy in the field of symbolic integration of dependent Kazakh rulers into the common political space through the concept of acculturation. During the 18th century, based on the real, extremely limited opportunities to actually keep the Kazakhs in dependence, the Russian border authorities made attempts to exert their influence on the process of election and legitimization of Kazakh khans. The main attention in the article is paid to the institution of khan's power, efforts of Russian administration to change the form and order of election and approval of Kazakh khans by Russian monarchs. An important innovation is the introduction and gradual adoption of a new imperial practice — the confirmation of Kazakh khans by Russian monarchs. A precedent is the confirmation of Khan Nuraly in 1749. Taking into account the generally undeveloped issues related to the very procedure of election and confirmation, it was important to show on the basis of archival and published documents the ritual itself and specific practices. The whole process of confirmation, as the sources show, was carefully designed by the frontier administrators, who attached great importance to it. Although confirmation of Kazakh khans by Russian monarchs was not immediately introduced, as the presence of the Russian Empire in the region increased, the tradition of confirmation was increasingly practiced until the liquidation of the khan's authority in the first decades of the 19th century.